Anna Karenina eBook

“And, at a moment of such gravity for me, she
only thinks of her being dull by herself,” thought
Levin. And this lack of candor in a matter of
such gravity infuriated him.

“It’s out of the question,” he said
sternly.

Agafea Mihalovna, seeing that it was coming to a quarrel,
gently put down her cup and withdrew. Kitty
did not even notice her. The tone in which her
husband had said the last words wounded her, especially
because he evidently did not believe what she had
said.

“I tell you, that if you go, I shall come with
you; I shall certainly come,” she said hastily
and wrathfully. “Why out of the question?
Why do you say it’s out of the question?”

“Because it’ll be going God knows where,
by all sorts of roads and to all sorts of hotels.
You would be a hindrance to me,” said Levin,
trying to be cool.

“Not at all. I don’t want anything.
Where you can go, I can....”

“Well, for one thing then, because this woman’s
there whom you can’t meet.”

“I don’t know and don’t care to
know who’s there and what. I know that
my husband’s brother is dying and my husband
is going to him, and I go with my husband too....”

“Kitty! Don’t get angry. But
just think a little: this is a matter of such
importance that I can’t bear to think that you
should bring in a feeling of weakness, of dislike to
being left alone. Come, you’ll be dull
alone, so go and stay at Moscow a little.”

“There, you always ascribe base, vile motives
to me,” she said with tears of wounded pride
and fury. “I didn’t mean, it wasn’t
weakness, it wasn’t...I feel that it’s
my duty to be with my husband when he’s in trouble,
but you try on purpose to hurt me, you try on purpose
not to understand....”

“No; this is awful! To be such a slave!”
cried Levin, getting up, and unable to restrain his
anger any longer. But at the same second he
felt that he was beating himself.

“Then why did you marry? You could have
been free. Why did you, if you regret it?”
she said, getting up and running away into the drawing
room.

When he went to her, she was sobbing.

He began to speak, trying to find words not to dissuade
but simply to soothe her. But she did not heed
him, and would not agree to anything. He bent
down to her and took her hand, which resisted him.
He kissed her hand, kissed her hair, kissed her hand
again—­still she was silent. But when
he took her face in both his hands and said “Kitty!”
she suddenly recovered herself, and began to cry,
and they were reconciled.